The Pit and the Pendulum, second plate. Alphonse LeGros. 1861. Etching on ivory laid paper, Plate: 26.5 × 36.7 cm (10 7/16 × 14 ½ in.); Sheet: 27.4 × 37.2 cm (10 13/16 × 14 11/16 in.) . Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago (1985.963), Marjorie B. Kovler Print Fund. Click on image to enlarge it.
“The Pit and the Pendulum,” one of the most famous of Poe’s short stories, tells the horrifying tale of a man sentenced to die during the Spanish Inquisition. One of the methods chosen for his execution is a pendulum constructed like a scythe that very slowly descends on the bound prisoner. Legros has chosen to represent the part of the story where the prisoner watches the descent of the pendulum with a look of abject terror and despair on his face. The rats that will chew his bonds and free him just in time to escape his fate are also portrayed. Dennis T. Lanigan
Last modified 23 November 2022